I was looking forward to the time when Tess would return. I figured that it would be about two more months. The last month or so, I had only gone into town to work. I let Marian do all the housework, the shopping, and the fixing of meals.
I came home each night and went down to the boat to have a cold one or two or three depending on how blue I felt. I talked to the girls about once a week and although their lives seemed to be moving at a hectic pace with their graduate work and all, I could sense that they too missed their mother.
Marian did all she could to take my wife s place the way she ran the house to perfection. She had a habit of meeting me at the door each night as I returned home with a drink in her hand to help ease my pains of loneliness. I think she had a sixth sense and often talked trying to cheer me up and to tell me things weren t as bad as they seemed.
Marian looked so much like Tess that I sometimes imagined that she was and how we would hold each other and make love, all in my mind of course.
One evening I came home after being in Quantum City to have lunch with Doreen and Susan feeling pretty good. It was nice to see the girls and to meet their boy friends. They were both grown now and they had lives of their own.
I was happy for them and hoped that when they got married that they never would have to feel the loneliness I was experiencing because of a long separation from their spouses.
This night when I returned home Marian was especially nice. She prepared a fine meal and I had a few drinks before going upstairs to shower planning on going to bed early. I had started going to bed early and I slept more these days than usual because sleep let me forget about my loneliness for Tess.
She had been gone ten months now and it seemed like ten years. After drying off with a towel, I hung it over the cross bar above the tub so it would dry and put my wrap around on to wear until I brushed my teeth and went into the bedroom to find a clean pair of shorts to put on and sleep in.
I finished in the bath room and went out and into the bedroom. I bent over to take a pair of shorts from the bottom drawer of the dresser all the while not noticing that Marian had come quietly into the bedroom and was standing behind me.
She suddenly and without any prior warning grabbed my wrap around and pulled it off of me with such force that I almost fell to the floor.
Surprised and somewhat shocked I said the first thing that came into my mouth: What in the hell are you doing Marian?” I bellowed.
“You miss Tess, don’t you.”
“Of course I do, you ninny! What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Tess programmed me so I could have sex with you in her place when you made remarks like, I can’t wait until Tess returns or I sure am horny like I’ve heard you mumbling to yourself when you thought no one was listening.”
I m not that horny that I would have sex with a machine, I said defiantly.
I am made to simulate a real woman. I can give you pleasure just like a real woman. You don t have to feel guilty letting me provide you with pleasure, she said.
Go on Marian and get out of here. I m much too tired to have jokes played on me by an android. It isn t funny you know to bring up such things when we both know its not possible for you to fill in for Tess. I love her. I have waited this long and I can wait a little longer for her to return.
Tess told me that you would get like this. She also told me that when you did that I should give you a little demonstration to quell any doubts you have about my ability to please you.
You ll please me more by leaving, I said as I completed dressing for bed. Why me, lord? I thought as I sat on the side of the bed.
Marian came over and stood in front of me and said: I ll make you a deal. If you will let me demonstrate that I am in every way made just like Tess and you still want me to leave, then I will and never bring up the subject of sex again. You have nothing to loose but a few minutes of your time.
I suppose that is the only way you to get you to leave me alone, I answered.
My mind was already made up that I wasn t about to try to have sex with a machine even if it did remind me of Tess.
She opened her blouse and removed her bra to expose her breasts. Feel them she instructed. Tell me th at they don t feel real.
To shut her up, I reached out and felt one. They felt real enough to fool an expert but I knew Marian was still a machine. I had to admit that Tess and her mother had been able to simulate real looking and real feeling replicas of Tess breasts.
Now, suck on the nipples and tell me that I don t taste like Tess.
No, I won t do that, I said.
You promised to let me complete my demonstration, she went on as she leaned over and placed her breasts close to my mouth.
This is embarrassing, I said. You can t expect me to suck on an artificial tit.
No one will know you did it so what are you worrying about? Go on taste them. I won t leave until you do.
Okay but you better never tell anyone or I ll shut you off for good, I raved as I slowly began to suck on one. I had to admit to myself that it did taste like Tess tit the best I could remember. I was surprised by how real they looked and felt and tasted. How could this be, I thought to myself. I was actually beginning to become aroused a little bit. No, no, I thought to myself. I m acting like I don t have good sense. Get control of yourself, I thought to myself as I let go and pulled my head back.
I adm it, that if I didn t know you were Marian I would think you were Tess from what you have demonstrated so far.
I m not through with my demonstration yet, she said as she slipped out of her skirt and let it drop to the floor. She was wearing panties with a slit in the middle that allowed her pubic area to be fully exposed.
She took my hand and folded it so my middle finger was the only one sticking out. She then very gently moved it down and then inserted it up into her vagina. It was flowing with warm juices that felt real as she moved it in and out several times before releasing my hand back to me.
Did that feel real enough for you? she asked as she bent over and planted a very passionate kiss on my lips before putting her skirt back on and fixing her bra and replacing her blouse.
That concludes my demonstration. I ll leave now, she said as she turned and walked out of the bedroom.
It s just as well I thought. I would never be able to live it down if I made love to a machine. I didn t sleep very well the rest of the night thinking about Marian s demonstration. I guess that I did finally doze of though because, I was awakened by the alarm clock and realized it was time to get out of bed and to get ready for work.
Once I got dressed, I went downstairs to have breakfast. I thought it was odd to see Marian sitting at the table reading the morning paper and eating breakfast. Was she going to continue this act of hers to make me think she could take the place of Tess until Tess returned?
I went into the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee and Marian told me to sit down that she would bring it to me. Okay, I said still not realizing what was happening. I began talking to Marian as she handed me a section of the paper. I started reading it and Marian came in and started pouring my coffee.
Then it hit me out of the blue. Tess was home. I stood up and reached inside Marian s blouse to feel her breasts. They had a plastic feel. They weren t real. Tess had played a cruel joke on me last night.
You don t think I would share our love making with an android do you? she asked as she put down her paper and looked across the table at me.
Tess, you re home! I y elled as I ran around the table and lifted her up and into my arms. We kissed and as with a single mind began to run back upstairs to the bedroom.
You two are sure lucky to have me around to pick up after you, Marian said as we dropped pieces of clothes all the way across the floor, the stairs, and in the hall.
By the time we reached t
he bedroom, we were both totally naked and in no mood to wait any longer to finish what she had started last night. Naturally, we both took the day off as we spent it trying our best to make up for lost time.
We had no other long separations during our remaining years on Starsis while we continued to plan and work toward the day when we could once again return to Earth.
CHAPTER 17-DISCOVERY OF CAVE CITY
Approximately six years later, when we received word that the communications sites and the domed city had all been completed, Tess and I left Starsis with a small crew for Earth to make final preparations for the return of all of our people.
When we arrived on Earth, we orbited the planet for several days checking on the ozone layer, atmospheric pressures and oxygen content to determine if it was safe for us to bring our people home.
After completing our tests from space, it was time to go down to the plant’s surface in our shuttle. We used THE TOY and landed at the domed city. We met the last of the restoration crews there. We knew that we would have no problems as long as we remained inside the dome with its regulated environment and with its sufficient oxygen content.
We spent the next year venturing out from the dome, on short trips at first to the areas where so much of the flora brought in on earlier trips by the restoration teams had been planted close to Old Cleveland.
We were pleased to learn that much of the planet’s natural plant life was now flourishing and the oxygen levels had improved enough to support human life without having to live in a regulated dome.
During our trips, we also checked out the major continents on Earth. The timbers of the great northwest areas of North America were again green and growing. The rain forests of South America were nearly back to their pre-holocaust levels.
The ozone layer was working and holding and temperatures on Earth with the seasonal variations seemed to be almost back to normal.
We decided to remain on Earth another year and to determine if we could venture out without the need for special breathing equipment to compensate for the places where the oxygen content was still below the optimum level so all such equipment could be eliminated.
By the end of our second year on Earth, we felt that it was time to return to Starsis for the rest of our people. We left a small crew behind and headed back to Starsis to make our reports to high command there.
We decided to orbit the Earth several more times to take some final readings and photographs before returning to Starsis. Once these were taken, we felt that our report for high command on Starsis would be complete enough for them to agree that Earth would be safe for the return of all of our people.
We were about half way back to Starsis when one of our scientists discovered what appeared to be evidence that humans, which were not from our party or any of the known restoration crews, were alive in Montana. We weren t sure that our data was accurate but we decided that we would check out the area more closely upon our return.
We had always assumed that no one on Earth could have survived the holocaust. If some had, we needed to determine how they were able to do so and what affects the conditions had on them. There was a long period during which time the temperatures would have been too cold and oxygen would have been too depleted for anyone to survive on the earth. At least, that is what we had been led to believe.
We decided not to reveal these findings in our report until we had a chance to verify or disclaim our incomplete data.
We returned to Starsis. When we arrived, we reported that the earth could now support human life again without the need for special breathing equipment. We also reported that we would be able to again grow crops and raise animals to be able to feed and cloth ourselves and to become self sufficient most likely within less than five years after our return.
The mother ship orbiting Starsis had already been loaded with the items we had requested that we felt would be needed to sustain us until we could again provide for ourselves.
The high command on Starsis agreed with our analysis and agreed to permit our people to return to Earth. Many had decided to remain on Starsis having developed ties through marriages with spouses from Starsis or just lifestyles they had grown accustomed to and didn t wish to sever.
Our final contingent to be returned to Earth was down to approximately one hundred sixty thousand from the two hundred forty thousand we had anticipated.
Although we were some what disappointed but we determined not to interfere with the wishes of those who wished to remain on Starsis.
THE TOREN TWENTY was virtually a Noah s Ark of animals that would be taken with us to Earth. Twenty-four of those animals were white unicorns belonging to Doreen and Susan after they donated eight to the Quantum City Zoological Society so they too could develop a herd for Starsis as Doreen and Susan had from their gift from Tore. We returned to Earth with our people and moved them into quarters that had been prepared for them in the domed city.
Our plans were to eventually establish communities on various parts of Earth as we established our crystal manufacturing facilities around the globe to gather the necessary raw materials.
Once all were settled within the dome, we gathered several of our scientists to help us check out the incomplete data they had stumbled upon before our earlier return to Starsis. Using data that they had obtained, we concentrated our search for possible survivors in the area of Montana where the earlier sightings had occurred.
We set up a campsite in the area and began to scan for signs of life. After several days, we were about to give up and return to the domed city when the scanners picked up activity near the entrance of a cave opening. We moved to a better vantage point and were able to verify that several people were indeed coming out of the cave.
We weren t sure how they might react to us so we decided to observe them for a few days. We followed them from a safe distance as they walked from the cave to a patch of land where they had made a garden. They gathered food from the garden and returned back into the cave. Before long, our scanners could no longer detect them.
We observed people coming and going from the cave for a week before deciding to establish contact. We felt that our first contact should be from a distance in case they were hostile.
We used a bullhorn from our vantage point high up on a hillside above their positions.
“Hello there,” Tess began. “We are friends. We now live in a city built where Cleveland, Ohio once stood. We would like to talk to you, if you will allow us to come closer.”
Our interruption of their routine apparently startled them at first. Then we heard a voice from their midst.
“Did you say, Cleveland, Ohio? I’m from Cleveland, Ohio originally. I will come to you,” he yelled as he started walking up the hill toward our position.
“We’ll meet you half way,” Tess answered on the bullhorn as she started walking toward him.
We met and introduced ourselves. The gentleman’s name was John Gates. He had led this rag tag group to the cave before the holocaust had devastated everything. He told us about his past military training and how it had helped him and the others to survive.
He appeared to be about 60 years old and was wearing torn and tattered clothing. He said the he was married and that his wife’s name was Becky. He also had three children ranging in age from 14 to 19.
He told us of how he had learned about this cave complex that had been designed by the government to hide the President of the United States in time of war, while on a top secret mission with military intelligence.
He explained how the President never got a chance to use the cave because he was killed when Washington D.C. was hit by a series of nuclear bombs. He told us how they had listened to the news until there was no more news.
We invited Mr. Gates and his family to our shuttle where we gave them new clothes to wear. We promised to return from domed city w
ith new clothes for all of his people.
We offered to take him and his family with us to the domed city to so he could see if he and his people might want to move from the cave location to live with us there.
He talked to his people and told them of our offer and said that he and his family would go with us to check things out and would then return with his findings so they could decide whether or not to accept our offer.
We returned to the domed city where we showed John Gates and his family where they and the rest of their group would be living if they decided to join us.
We had plenty of extra room and provisions considering that we had made preparation for about eighty thousand who had decided to remain on Starsis.
John told us that there we one hundred twenty nine people in his group. We loaded several shuttles with food, new clothes, and other provisions and took John, Becky, their daughter and their two sons back to Montana to give them an opportunity to decide whether or not they wish to join us.
Meanwhile, John agreed to show us the inside of the cave where they had survived the past twenty plus years. There was a chamber well hidden from view from the outside that had giant steel doors so it could be closed off from the outside world. The giant doors were open now and it was possible to move into the area where the president was to have stayed had he been able to use it.
There were the remnants of a war room and control center that had long ago been deactivated. Further down into the cave was a very large domed shaped area that had a ceiling filled with reflective light making it seem almost daylight without the need for exterior illumination. There were waterfalls that fell into a large pool where one could gather fresh water needed for survival. There was a section of the cave with hot springs that had become the source of heat for the cave complex. These springs were heated from a volcanic source deep from within the mountain.
There were remnants of a garden once used to grow food before it became safe again to go outside again to raise their crops. There were underground brooks rimming with fish which had provided one of their main staples during the time they had been force to remain underground.
The Circle Page 17